Train Dreams is not the kind of film I usually pick to watch, but a reader suggested it had women in significant roles so I took a look. It turned out to be a beautiful film about life in a changing world during the first part of the 20th Century. There are spoilers ahead.

Train Dreams tells the story of Robert’s (Joel Edgerton) life, with silky narration from Will Patton. It’s set in the Pacific northwest where loggers were busy bringing down huge trees in dangerous conditions.

Robert met and married Gladys (Felicity Jones). They had an acre of land near a river where they built a home and started a family. Robert was a stoic kind of man, but Gladys brought out the warmth in him.

Much of the film was shot from a distance. We were remote from the characters. But scenes with Gladys were close and intimate. The only other scene in the film that brought any intimacy to the story was a conversation Robert had with Claire (Kerry Condon), a fire watcher in a tower in the forest.

Robert had to be gone for long periods when he was working. Some of the most beautiful parts of the movie were conversations at the logging camps about what they were doing to the trees and the environment. One of the men at his camps was Arn (William H. Macy). Arn was the philosopher of the group and gave some speeches that underlined the thematic underpinnings of the environmental story that the film told.

Robert also worked building bridges for the railroad. There were a lot of trains in the story.

Grief and loss was another thematic line in the film. A forest fire took Robert’s home and family. Lifelong grief followed him everywhere after that. He imagined and dreamed of his family long after they were gone. He waited for their return. He also had frequent guilty visions of a Chinese man (Alfred Hsing) who had been murdered at one of the camps.

Robert was everyman. He worked hard to do the things that made America grow and prosper. He was kind. There was nothing to set him apart from other men and no acknowledgement that men like him were the brawn and backbone of a growing nation. You may recognize your fathers and grandfathers in his story.

Train Dreams is out of theaters and streaming on Netflix. It received four Oscar nominations including Best Picture of the Year.